Post by Ella.
No one told me that hiking in the White Mountains could be so much…fun? And this time of year, all those rocks and roots the White Mountains are famous for, are concealed by layers of leaves. Nature’s finest art, those colorful leaves fallen from tall birches and maples, hide the treachery beneath.
This morning, we thought we’d try a trail marked as Easy just to get a couple hours outside before the rain started in earnest. The Lookout Ledge trail with the easier alternative of taking the Grassy Path to the Pasture Path and then cutting over to the Ledge trail. Do you care which trails? Nah….
If this were in the Sandia’s or even farther north in the Rockies proper, this WOULD be easy because the path would be forest floor, dirt maybe with a covering of dry pine needles. An occasional big root that you could see a mile away. But okay, there wouldn’t be as much oxygen there.
But such beautiful leaves. Made me want to know how and why the leaves turn like that.
We picked our way through bogs occasionally aided by planks laid across, slipped on moss covered rocks, stumbled over tree roots, and to my everlasting pleasure (ha!) rock-hopped (or maybe rock hugged) over several streams.
Long story (already too long) cut short, we patted ourselves on the back as we arrived back at our cabin with no twisted ankles or other senior mishaps and stepped onto the porch just as the rain descended. And then I looked at our photos. Wasn’t that beautiful? It really was.